Pivoted oar.



No. 888,520. PATENTBD MAY 26, 1908.

D. I. MERRIMAN & R. L. APPEL.

PIVOTED OAR.

APPLIOATION IILBD JULY 18.1907.

WITNESSES:

. v INVENTORS V M Davz'dEMerrz'm an Robert LApfeZ,

BY 46 I I ATTOR EY ON D UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID F. MERRIMAN AND ROBERT L. APFEL, OF WATERLOO, IOWA.

PIVO'IED OAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, DAVID F. MERRIMAN and ROBERT L. APFEL, citizens of the United States of America, and residents of Waterloo, Blackhawk county, Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pivoted Oars, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in pivoted oars, and the object of our improvements is to provide a frictionless rock-handle forthat type of oar adapted to preserve the hands of the oarsman from undue friction and excoriation. .This object we have accomplished. by the means which are hereinafter described and claimed, and which are illustrated in the drawings hereto annexed, in which Figure 1 is a representation of a pivoted oar provided with our frictionless handle. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view, parts being shown as sectioned away, of the handle end of such an oar and its frictionless handle. Fig. 3 is another similar view depicting a stop inserted to limit the rotation of said handle. Fig. 4 is a crosssection of the oar taken on the line 9ca in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detail view of a frictionless ball-bearing handle for an oar, and Fig. 6 is a section thereof taken on the line yy in Fig. 5.

Similar numbers refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Our improved frictionless handle would be of no benefit if applied to an ordinary oar, such as lies loosely in an oarlock for the purpose of feathering, but is intended solely as an improvement on that class of oars used on boats adapted for use on smooth water, such oars being provided with pintles rocking in bearings in oarlocks pivoted to the boat. In this type of oars the pivotal connection keeps the blade of the oar vertical, but free to move vertically or horizontally without feathering. Inasmuch as there is no rocking movement to such an oar, the hands of the oarsman as he shifts position tend to slide over the oarhandle, which creates undue friction between the palms of the hands and the fixed oarhandle, with consequent discomfort by reason of the excoriations thus produced. Our frictionless handle does away uuth any necessity for the hands to slide around the oar, as only a slight grip is necessary in order to retain a clutch on the oar, as the handle turns frictionlessly with the hands, and no friction Patented May 26, 1908. r

can occur between the hands and such handles.

In Figs. 1 and 2 are depicted frictionless handles of the simplest form. The shank of the oar 2 is longitudinally bored from its end to receive a spindle 7. This spindle ordinarily is driven tightly within such bore or shellacked therein, or may be secured from Withdrawal by means of a set-screw 8. A rotatable handle 6 is seated on that part of the spindle which projects from the end of the oar, and is retained thereon by means of the head on the outer end of said spindle. The handle shown in Fig. 2 is free to rotate in either direction without hindrance, but since the actual rocking of the handle while in the hand of the oarsman does not exceed ninety degrees ordinarily, we have shown in Figs. 3 and 4 a stop devised to prevent such handle rotating through more than one revolution, and of course it is obvious that a slight variation in the thickness of the stop might be made to restrict the rocking to approximately a quarter revolution. The inner face of the handle 6 has an annular recess or groove 9 adapted to permit such handle to move about the stud 22 extending radially from the spindle 7. A slot is cut radially on the inner face ofsaid handle, and in said slot is embedded a pin 10 whose inner end extends to but does not contact with said spindle, but lies in the path of movement of the stud 22 so as to prevent such handle from turning to the extent of one revolution. This stop gives the oarsman a certain fixed clutch on the oar for certain purposes without doing away with the benefit of the anti-friction bearing in actual rowing.

In Fig. 5 and in Fig. 6 is shown a ball-bearing for a handle 6. The spindle 7 whose maximum diameter is in its portion inserted into the shank of the oar 2, has a concaved annular bearing-face 17 and from thence extends its reduced portion having a threaded extremity 21 on which is mounted an interiorly threaded cone-bearing 14. The conebearing 14 is retained by means of a nut 20, and a lock-nut outside of it. A cylindrical sleeve 16 having concave annular bearing faces at either end at 13 and 18 is placed concentric with the outer portion of the spindle 7, anti-friction balls 11 being interposed between the bearings 17 and 13, and balls 12 between the bearings 18 and 14. The sleeve 16 is of a diameter to fit snugly within a cylindrical boring 19 in said handle 6, and may be shellacked thereto or otherwise secured thereto, as indicated by the set-screws 15. Either of these forms of frictionless handles may be used in connection with such a pivoted oar as is shown inFig. l, where the blade 1 is held vertical by the oars method of mounting. The oar 2 has pintles 4, which are pivotally fulcrumed in orifices in the bi furcations of an oarlock 3, the latter having its depending cylindrical shank pivotally mounted in a socket 5 secured to the side of the boat in the well-known manner.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination, a swiveled oar-lock, an oar ivoted thereto, an axial spindle secured to t e handle-end of said oar and projecting therefrom, and a handle rotatably mounted on the projection of said spindle.

2. In combination, a swiveled oar-lock, an oar ivoted thereto, an axial spindle secured to t e handle-end of said oar, a handle mounted on said spindle-to rock thereon, and stops on said spindle and on said handle adapted to contact each other to limit the degree of forward and back swinging of said handle.

3. In combination, a swiveled oar-lock, an oar pivoted thereto, a spindle axially secured to the handle-end of said oar and projecting therefrom, bearings on the projection of said spindle, a rotatable sleeve about and spaced away from said spindle projection and provided with bearing-seats opposed and spaced away from the bearings on the spindle, antifriction means interposed between the opposed bearings on said sleeve and said spindle, and a handle secured about said sleeve and adapted to rotate therewith.

Signed at lVaterloo, Iowa, this 5th day of July, 1907.

DAVID F. MERRIMAN. ROBERT L. APFEL. Witnesses:

O. D. YOUNG,

H. M. HARPER. 

